Cigarette lighters



Oct. 25, 1966' o. s. GROP 3,280,598

CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Filed July 16, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1

r \/F Y Olaf Sane Grap Oct. 25, 1966 o. s. GROP CIGARETTE LIGHTERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1964 Fig.3

JM 0101 Sam? Gro ,%Jmmw Oct. 25, 1966 o. s. GROP 3,280,598

CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Filed July 16, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 4

0201 Sane G F P United States Patent Ofiice 3,280,598 CIGARETTE LIGHTERS Olof Sune Grop, Maratonvagen 78, Ensl-rede, Sweden Filed July 16, 1964, Ser. No. 383,095 6 Claims. (Cl. 677.1)

This invention relates to cigarette, or the like, lighters, which are provided with a fuel nozzle, to which nozzle gas-forming liquid is fed out of a fuel container by means of a tube containing a wick with reducing conduction capacity, and a closure device.

Valves for reducing the flow area to a size suitable for obtaining a flame of the desired height, have hitherto been comparatively complicated in construction. The aperture through which the liquid fuel must pass, in order that a sufliciently high flame is obtained, is so small that it corresponds to a circular aperture with a diameter of 0.03 mm. An alteration in the diameter of the aperture results in a large alteration in aperture area, since the area varies with the square of the diameter. Since it is diflicult to make such small apertures to a given diameter, it can easily be seen that this means precision work if, an uncontrollable throttle aperture of the said order of size for the liquid, is used to maintain an equal reduction in flow area for all lighters produced in mass production. It has been proposed in German Patent No. 1,079,- 371 to constrict the narrow gas duct by one or more threads introduced in the aperture, but it is obvious that it is extremely difficult to introduce one or more fine threads into what is already an extremely narrow duct. Such introduction of threads is perhaps possible in short ducts, but it would probably be impossible to proceed in this way in the case of long tubes when the fuel has to be led up from the bottom of a fuel container.

Such reducing valves are, as a rule, provided with members by means of which the degree of throttling of the flow area can be regulated and to which valves the fuel can be fed by means of a wick or the like. The addition of such members naturally means an expensive complication in the production of the lighter.

It is an object of the invention to produce a wick which can easily be fitted in the fuel container and which can lead the liquid from the container to the fuel nozzle with the requisite reduction of the flow area. For this purpose the wick is enclosed in a synthetic plastic sleeve and the upper end of the sleeve is inserted in an aperture, pressing together the sleeve and the wick, in a collar provided in the fuel container.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 represents a longitudinal section of a fuel container for use for a lighter having a wick arranged in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a similar view of such a container with a second embodiment of the wick altering means and with the container inserted in a lighter which is partly shown,

FIGURE 3 is a similar view of part of a further fuel container for use in another embodiment, and

FIGURE 4 is a similar view of part of a further embodiment of such a container.

The fuel container 1 shown in FIGURE 1 forms a container for single use. It has at the top an aperture 2, in which a collar 3 is inserted and fixed so that the upper rim 4 of the aperture is turned over a flange 5. Under the flange is inserted a packing 6 which seals the opening between the collar and the container.

A wick 8, enclosed in a synthetic plastic sleeve 7, is inserted in the aperture 9 of the collar, extends to the bottom of the container, and is held fast, for example, by an inwardly bulging corrugation at 10 in the aperture 9, in such a way that the aperture is given a smaller crosssectional area than the sleeve, and by which corrugation the sleeve and wick are pressed together. The wick now} leads the fuel from the bottom of the container to the collar and there acts as a valve reducing the flow area, whose reducing capacity depends among other things on the size of the corrugation at 10.

This fuel container can, as shown in FIGURE 2, be made interchangeable in the casing 11 of the lighter, in such a way that the collar 3 provided with the male thread 12 is screwed from the bottom into a nipple 13 screwed into the casing. The aperture 14 through the nipple acts as a guide for a fuel nozzle 15 movable in the aperture, which is normally held pressed against the upper end of the collar 3 by a compression spring 16, and by means of a joint 17 inserted on the underside of the fuel nozzle, closes the mouth of the duct 18 against the collar and prevents gas escaping.

In this case the wick of the sleeve 7 is held fast in the aperture 9 by the sleeve being screwed in the aperture 9 provided with screw thread 19.

When the lighter is ignited gas reaches the fuel nozzle 15 by this being somewhat raised in known manner by a partly shown rockable arm 20 operating against the action of a compression spring 16. In this operation the mouth of the aperture of the collar 18 is freed, so that gas can reach the aperture 14 in the nipple 13 acted on by the compression spring 16. A continuous flow of gas upwards outside the fuel nozzle 15 is prevented by an outwardly conical fitting 21 on the fuel nozzle, which fitting is pressed sealingly against the lower edge of a narrower part 22 of the aperture 14. The gas now flows through a transverse aperture 23 in the fuel nozzle to the aperture 24 of the fuel nozzle and out of the mouth of aperture 24, while it is ignited by means of the friction member shown in FIGURE 2.

In the form of embodiment represented in FIGURE 3 the fuel nozzle 15 is made in one piece with the fuel container 1 and takes the form of a collar drawn out from the end piece of the container. In a further part of the aperture 9 through the collar the end of the sleeve 7, containing the wick 8, is held fast by means of an inwardly bulging corrugation 10, which in this embodiment is placed outside the container. The duct 24 going through the fuel nozzle, which represents a narrower extension of the aperture 9 is normally closed by a rubber stopper 25, which is inserted in an aperture 26 in the fuel nozzle leading from the side into the duct 24. An operating lever in the form of a two-armed lever swivellable around a transverse spindle 27 in the casing, normally presses, by the bent-over end 29 of one arm 28, against the rubber stopper under the action of a compression spring 30 applied between the arm and the casing so that the rubber stopper is pressed with a certain amount of deformation partly into the duct 24 and closes this and, thus, also the gas feed. The other arm 31 of the lever is formed as a finger grip 32 guided downwardly along the casing. Above the said second arm 31 an ignition roller 33 of the usual type is supported rotatably on a spindle 34 in the casing. An ignition flint 35 is applied against the ignition roller from below which flint is pressed by a spring (not shown) against the ignition roller.

This lighter is ignited by the casing being held by one hand and the thumb, for example, laid along the ignition roller 33 in the direction of the arrow 36. Here the thumb can slide from the ignition roller onto the arm 31, by which the actuating member swivels clockwise say against the action of the compression spring 30, so that the pressure of the arm 28 is applied against the rubber stopper 25. This means that the rubber stopper partly assumes its non-deformed shape and releases a part of the cross-sectional area of the duct 24 so that gas can Patented Oct. 25, 1966 flow through the duct and sparks can be produced by friction of the ignition roller 33 against the flint 35.

As soon as the arm 31 is let go the compression spring 30 swings the actuating member 28 back in the counter-clockwise direction, so that the rubber stopper is again partly pressed into the duct 24 and closes this and also therefore the gas flow.

Another embodiment of the lighter in accordance with the invention is represented in FIG. 4. In the collar 3 of the fuel container 1 the synthetic plastic sleeve 7, provided with the wick 8, is fixed in such a way that its upper end is enclosed by a plastic ring 37 which bears against conical cam surface 39, and which can be compressed or relieved from load by rotating the fuel nozzle 15. In this way it is possible to reduce the cross-sectional area of the sleeve and hence also of the wick, by which a control'of the gas feed to the nozzle and, hence,'the heightof the flame can be obtained in a simple manner.

The gas feed regulation arrangement is made easier if, as shown in FIGURE 4, the surface 38 of the fuel nozzle 15 abutting the ring 37, and the opposing cam surface 39 of the base of the aperture are made conical in sucha way that the ring embraces a greater axial length of the sleeve 7 than that of the aperture. Thus by using a given ring the wick 8 is compressed along a greater part of its length than if the surfaces 38 and 39'were normal to the axis of the aperture.

I claim:

1. In cigarette lighters, walls forming a container for gas-forming liquid, a collar in the container in connection with a fuel nozzle, a synthetic plastic sleeve within said container and containing a wick with reducing conductive capacity, the upper end of said sleeve extending into an aperture in said collar, said aperture in said collar compressing said sleeve and said wick, and a closure device for the closure of the fuel current to thenozzle said sleeve surrounding the wick along the Whole length of the inwardly extending corrugation is provided in the part of the collar, which is located in the fuel container for gripping and compressing said sleeve.

3. A cigarette lighter according to claim 1, and in which said fuel nozzle is formed by said collar, said collar being integral with one of said walls of the container, said collar having an inwardly extending corrugation for gripping the sleeve.

4. A cigarette lighter according to claim 1, said aperture in said collar being threaded and said sleeve being screwed into said aperture by its upper end.

5. A cigarette lighter according to claim 1, said aperture in said collar being an upper wider threaded part, an elastic ring inserted in said wi-der part surrounding said inserted sleeve, said nozzle being threaded and screwed into said aperture and thereby compressing said ring, so

that the ring will compress said sleeve, at least one of the References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,669,108 2/1954 Reilly 67 7.1 2,677,948 5/1954 Gehrie 677.1 2,737,037 3/1956 Zelliveger 67-7.1 X 3,083,554 4/1963 Iketani 67-7.1 3,085,412 4/1963 Mohr et a1. 677.1 3,092,988 6/1963 Meyers 677.1 3,139,743 7/1964 Gilberton 67--7.1

LLOYD L. KING, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN CIGARETTE LIGHTERS, WALLS FORMING A CONTAINER FOR GAS-FORMING LIQUID, A COLLAR IN THE CONTAINER IN CONNECTION WITH A FUEL, NOZZLE, A SYNTHETIC PLASTIC SLEEVE WITHIN SAID CONTAINER AND CONTAINING A WICK WITH REDUCING CONDUCTIVE CAPACITY, THE UPPER END OF SAID SLEEVE EXTENDING INTO AN APERTURE IN SAID COLLAR, SAID APERTURE IN SAID COLLAR COMPRESSING SAID SLEEVE AND SAID WICK, AND A CLOSURE DEVICE FOR THE CLOSURE OF THE FUEL CURRENT TO THE NOZZLE SAID SLEEVE SURROUNDING THE WICK ALONG THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE WICK AND REACHING NEAR TO BOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER. 